Former Ridgewood Pastor Facing Child Porn Charges

RIDGEWOOD, NJ – A former Ridgewood pastor faces charges after authorities say he was in possession of child pornography.

Rev. Gregory Lisby, now a priest at All Saints Church in Worchester, Mass., was arrested Sept. 12 after FBI agents raided the rectory where he lives with his husband, Rev. Timothy Burger, and two daughters, according to the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts.

In a letter to the congregation, Rev. Douglas Fisher said Lisby is now in federal custody but “out of an abundance of caution” he will be prohibited from any contact with any Episcopal church. Fisher also said he has launched an internal investigation.

Lisby has been rector of All Saints Church since 2015. Recently, he began teaching kindergarten in a Holyoke school, according to Fisher.

Prior to that, he served at Christ Church in Ridgewood from June 2010 to May 2015. Before his arrival in Ridgewood, he served at two churches in Rhode Island from 2005 to 2010.

According to Fisher, Lisby was suspended last year “for an inappropriate relationship with an adult that did not involve sexual contact.”

“Nothing I discovered during the disciplinary process gave me any reason to believe he was a danger to children,” Fisher said.

He also added: “I have no reason to believe that children in our diocese have been victimized in this situation. Yet, I know that children whose images appear in pornography are heinously abused and violated by adults who produce and consume it. This reality breaks my heart.”

“We take the safety of children very seriously in the Diocese of Western Massachusetts. All active clergy and any lay leader who has contact with children through church programs participate in the safe church training programs endorsed and mandated by the Episcopal Church,” Fisher also said.